Cooking with Blobby

When's the last time you saw one of these segments??   Forever and a day it seems.

This "new" job (19 months in) has stymied my ability to try too much new when it comes to cooking. It's all I can do to get home and make one of the now standards.

I miss the experimentation, but sometimes you have to make due. I should explore more on weekends, I guess.

But it was the 4th and we have our annual neighborhood picnic.

You know me and our neighborhood get togethers - I gotta show off the gay. Those women and their quinoa salads are driving me batty. No one wants that much quinoa ladies....and yes, we're all judging you for trying to announce to everyone how "healthy" you are. No one is buying it.....on any level.

As you saw yesterday, I opted for the non-dessert option. There'd be tons of cookies and cupcakes...and there were, along with some amazing brownies, of which I kept it to one. And naturally, the ubiquitous rice krispie treats - of which I had one.  ....and while some find the bowl of fruit to be a "dessert", you're fooling no one.  ....though I still ate it.

No, I went for curry chicken salad. I've seen Ina make it, and sampled some my cousin Betsy has made, and it was good. So that's what I did.

Chicken Breasts  - with bone and skin
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Curry Powder - 3 T
Mayo (full fat) - 1.5 cups
Chutney - 1/4 cup
Dry White Wine - 1/3 cup
Celery - two large stalks - medium chop
Scallions - two of them - medium chop
Whole Salted Cashews - 1 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup   Seedless Red Grapes

Good luck finding bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts these days. I have deboned a chicken before to go that route, but not this time. Skinless, boneless for me.  Who's got the time? Perhaps the bone-in have more meat.....but more on that in a minute. 

Rub with olive oil, then salt & pepper them, then roast in oven till done. 20 min or so. 

While that cooks, it gives you more than enough time to make the dressing and chop. 

Throw mayo, chutney, wine, curry and 1.5 t of salt into food processor. Keep it on until all is smooth. 

It makes a LOT of sauce. It doesn't seem like it till you blend it. This is where I wonder if bone-in chicken has more meat. I could have easily had enough for two more breasts. 

BTW.....use a coloured spatula and stuff, as curry stains quickly and easily. Mix stuff in glass bowls, not anything plastic. 

I also had time to cut the grapes and chop the scallions and celery.  I used grapes because while I like raisins on their own, I'm not a fan of them "in" food. 

Chop the chicken while it is still warm and add SOME of the sauce.  Don't over do it until you see how it melds. Then add the celery, grapes and scallions. Blend.  Add more sauce as needed. You don't want the chicken and such swimming in that.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or so. 

Add cashews and mix them in. 

Adding them later leaves them their firmness. 

I liked it. Says it will serve 6, but who knows. I put it in a bowl and people took it all - gone within 30 minutes or so. I never did hear anyone rave about it, nor did I see them gag and spit it out, so I'm taking it as a win.

710 claimed to have liked it.

I don't know I'd make it for home use really, unless I halved the recipe. There is only so much curry I want to eat in a short period of time.

Still with the spice of the curry, the bite of the scallion, the salt of the cashew and the sweetness of the grapes, it provided a plethora of ways to enjoy the dish.   It's good for parties......or if you made wraps.

It's a very easy recipe.